Aircraft are expensive to manufacture because safety concerns dictate quality manufacture while weight limits range, performance, and payload. There are significant design challenges. Large aircraft are commonly made from aluminum alloys riveted and fastened together. The fasteners add significantly to the total weight. Military aircraft, especially fighters, are more and more being made from thermoset or thermoplastic materials for improved strength-to-weight ratios, but the construction still parrots metal construction with fasteners to join parts into assemblies. Military airplanes must satisfy even more requirements than commercial transport airplanes, such as the Congressionally-imposed "Live Fire" tests. Military airplanes also have unusual performance requirements. To obtain the desired performance, reducing the cost and weight of construction are two enviable objectives.
The present invention is a hybrid beam that combines metal with composites to marry the advantages each offers. This description will first discuss the problems of composite manufacturing before turning to a brief discussion of emerging solutions to address the cost and weight objectives where the beam of the present invention offers the greatest leverage.